Learning Shiny

The observe() function

From the functions covered in this chapter, observe() is definitely the most difficult to understand. Going deeper into the preceding definition, observe() generates outputs from reactive values (inputs) that are not rendered in an application and cannot be used inside another reactive context (for example, renderPlot() or reactive()). As a consequence of this, this function will be rather used to generate a backend process that depends on reactive values.

observe() can be used, for example, to download data depending on reactive values on the server side, such as keeping track of the application's use in a text file, similar to a log. Another very common use of observe() is to update the arguments of an input widget based ...